Improved chimney-fastener



R. w..- HAWKINS.

Lamp Chimney Fastener. No. 38,388. 8 Patented May .5, 1863" 1% c aamhw Inn-va or.-

UNITED STATES- PATEN'T OFFICE.

RICHARD WATSON HAIVKINS, OF PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA.

IMPROVED CHIMNEY-FASTENER.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 38,388,, dated May 5, 1863.

To all whom it may concern- Be it known that I, RICHARD WVATSON HAWKINS, of the city of Pittsburg, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improved Chimney-Fastener for Lamps and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had tojthe annexed drawings, forming part of this specification, in which Figure l is a perspective representation of a lamp-burner--such as is ordinarily used for burning carbon and coal-oilwiih a chimney in place secured by my improved fastener. Fig. 2 is a representation of the same burner with the fastener turned so as to release the chimney, and the chimney removed. Fig. 3 is the slide of my fastener detached from the burner-frame.

The devices which are in use for securing glass lamp-chimneys to their burner-frames are chiefly the following A screw passed hrough and taking into threads in the crownpiece of the burner-frame, the point of the screw pressing against the neck of the glass chimney, just above its flange. This device is liable to the great objections that the screw is apt to be pressed so tight against the chimney, when it is cold-that as it expands by the heat it cracks for want of room. The screw is also liable to be lost when the lamp is not in use. To remedy these objections, a bent spring was applied to the crown-piece of the burner-frame, which will recede as the chimney is pressed down, and fly back over the flange but this, although better than the screw in some respects, does not hold the chimney with suficient firmness, and fails to answer the purpose, unless the flange of the chimney is just of the proper diameter; and as chimneys are very apt to vary slightly in this respect, the bent spring is not so efficient as a-third device, which is much in use, consisting of asmall bolt, surrounded by a spiral spring, so placed in the burner-frame that the point of the bolt is forced with a yielding pressure against the neck of the chimney above the flange. This fastener obviates the chief objections to the two first described, but has some peculiar to itself, which are, that if the spring is carelessly released after having been drawn back, and the chimney inserted, the stroke of the point of the bolt on the neck of the chimney may fracture it, for glass chimneys for carbon-oil lamps are very apt to be cracked, owing to the fact that they are unequally heated, the bulb becoming very much hotter than the lower part or neck, and that of the chimney, but only on the flange, if at all,for it is not necessary that the points of my fastener should press upon any part of the chimney, as it holds it in its place by means of points which pass over the flange.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my improved chimney-fastener, I will proceed to describe its construction and operation. I

, In the drawings, Figs. 1 and 2, a is the burner-frame,- of any ordinary construction, having a crown-piece, 0, around the upper edge, the diameter of which is such as to allow of the easy insertion of the chimney b, in the usual position with the flange at the bottom of the chimney, resting on the base of the cone-piece d, as seen in Fig. 1. From the crown-piece, at the opposite side to that at which the chimney-fastener is situate when the chimney is in place, are two points, 0 6, turned inward toward thecenter of the burner, at such a height above the base of theconepiece at as that the flange'of the chimney may be passed easily under them in the usual manner. In the upright rim of this crown-piece c is cut a groove, t", extending nearly half around the burner-frametha-t is to say, from the place opposite to the points 6 6 very nearly to one of the points 0. In this groove 2 is placed the neck I of my sliding fastener, (the shape of which is shown in Fig. 3,) with the bent arms 9 g project 1g inward over the base of the cone, at the same height as the points 6 6. At the end of the neckl of the fastener is a knob or handle, f, which keeps the fastener in its place and serves to operate the fastener by slidingit around in the groove 6.

When it is desired to insert a glass chimney in the burner-frame, it is done by sliding the fastener to the position shown in Fig, 2, until its bent arms gg are on the same side of the burner-frame and as near as possible to the points 6 e. The flange of the chimney is then inserted under the points 0 e and arms g 9, when the knobf is moved back to the other end of the groove 0', which brings the bent arms 9 9 into the position shown in Fig. 1, diametrically opposite to the points 0 0, thus etlectualiy securing the chimney in its place. If desired, the groove i may be made slightly inclined from a horizontal plane downward from the points 0, so that while theflange of thechimney will go under the extremities of the bent arms 9 g of the fastener, when they are close to the points 0 e, the bent arms will be pressed downward as the knobf is moved round, press in upon the upper surface of the flan ge ofthe chimney, and thus holding it so securely as to prevent the chimney shaking when the lamp is carried.

My improved fastener may be conveniently made of one piece, stamped out of a piece of brass plate, the knob f being formed by curling the ends of a strip of brass at right angles to the neck I, as shown in Fig. 8. Thus my improvement has the additional advantages of great simplicity and cheapness, as the cost of the fastener will be almost nothing.

Having thus described my improvement, what I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

The use of a chimney-fastener for lamps consisting of a slide placed in the burnerframe, and having arms or other equivalent device for holding down the flange of the chimney on one side, and capable of being slid round toward the points or other device by which the chimney is held down on the opposite side, substantially as hereinbe'tore described.

In testimony whereof the said RICHARD WA'rsoN HAWKINS hath hereunto set his hand.

J. D HANCOCK, WV. BAKEWEIJL. 

